Musona to stay in Europe

ACES Youth Academy director Nigel Munyati has maintained that Walter Musona and Wisdom Mutasa will now stay on and fight for their places at Slovakia top-flight SK Senec amid revelations that the pair had contemplated returning home following a difficult start to European football.

Musona and Mutasa joined SKC Senec at the end of August after impressing the club during a three-week trial stint in July and Munyati said he had impressed on the players that they needed to be patient while finding their stride in the tougher European game.

The former FC Platinum players underwent a three-week trial at the Slovakian Super Liga outfit during which they impressed coach Eduard Pagac, who immediately initiated the start of contract talks, which culminated in the Europeans signing the pair.

Aces Youth Academy hold the rights to the players while former Warriors midfielder Kennedy Chihuri and European agent George Venglos were actively involved in facilitating Musona and Mutasa's switch.

But before Musona and Mutasa could settle down to life in the Slovak Western town of Seneca, Pagac parted ways with the club with Adrej Stellar coming on board as the new coach.

That move sparked an uneasy turn of fortunes for Musona and Mutasa as it emerged that the hopes they had of becoming instant hits in SC Senec colours under Pagac vanished with the coming in of a new coach.

Stellar reportedly insisted on being given more time to make his own assessments of Musona and Mutasa, while the Zimbabweans are understood to have taken that "to mean they were now unwanted at the club''.

The Young Warriors pair also found themselves securing visas to ply their trade in Slovakia on the eve of the close of the transfer window and although they were registered just in time for the deadline, their new coach opted to work with the material he had become accustomed to in the final build-up to the season.

Those developments left the Zimbabwean youth internationals homesick with the players mooting a return to Zvishavane arguing that being at the FC Platinum base "was a better option''.

However, Munyati yesterday said they had successfully counselled and convinced the players to stay on and fight for their places at the club.

Munyati attributed the bid by Musona and Mutasa to quickly return home to a cultural shock.

The former ZIFA board member said Musona was now slowly making his breakthrough into the senior team while Mutasa would have to be content with playing more matches for the reserve side.

The switch to Slovakia opened a window of opportunity for Musona, who had previously tried his luck with former African champions Esperance of Tunisian as well as twice with South African Premiership giants Mamelodi Sundowns.

For Mutasa, it was a case of first time luck with the son of Whawha coach - Lloyd Mutasa - getting his breakthrough at the initial attempt.

But Munyati wants the players to stay on and showcase their talents with a view to helping open up opportunities for more local players to move to Europe.